


Phobia

by genneel



Category: All Time Low
Genre: College, Gen, M/M, Prompt Fill
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-17
Updated: 2015-10-17
Packaged: 2018-04-26 17:46:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 974
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5014096
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/genneel/pseuds/genneel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"I thought you were dying."</p><p>"Spiders can be murderous."</p>
            </blockquote>





	Phobia

Jack was pissed.

It was 3:26 in the morning and he lied in his bed, attempting to block out Rian's and Alex's obnoxious sex noises as he tried to get some sleep. The pair had been going at it for nearly two hours, and it was getting ridiculous. Jack didn't know how either of them managed to last that long. As if that wasn't bad enough, Jack had a chemistry midterm at eight, and he needed all of the rest that he could get in order to earn some semblance of an acceptable grade.

Jack was pissed _and_ fucked.

After suffering for five more minutes, during which the moaning from the bed across the room from his managed to become _louder_ , Jack decided that he'd had enough, so he gathered his pillow and his comforter and quickly exited the room, shielding his eyes from the atrocious situation that was taking place.

Jack dropped his pillow on the hallway floor and practically collapsed against it as he reveled in the quiet. He was eternally thankful that he could _finally_ relax.

He should've knocked on wood.

Jack was awakened at five a.m. by a bloodcurdling scream from the room across the hall, and he jolted upright. It sounded like the guy was being fucking _slaughtered_. While he should've been concerned about that, all Jack's sleep-deprived mind could conjure up was, "What if I catch the killer and get a reward?" So, like the complete idiot that he was, Jack warily opened the door, where a muscular guy was wielding a broomstick.

"Dude, what's up?" Jack asked, combing his fingers through his disheveled hair and eyeing the attractive — _shirtless_ —boy before him. He was tall, albeit slightly shorter than Jack himself, and he had gorgeous hazel eyes and short, black hair.

"Spider," Shirtless Boy responded, gesturing towards the ceiling and handing the broomstick to Jack. As annoyed as he was that he was woken up because of a fucking _spider,_ Jack couldn't help but find the shy manner of Shirtless Boy to be adorable. He accepted the broom from him and jerked it towards the arachnid, and his night got a hell of a lot worse.

He killed the spider, but he put a fucking _hole_ in the ceiling _._

"As if my college tuition wasn't pricey enough," Jack muttered, staring at the gaping hole with his mouth open in a similar fashion. He wasn't looking, but he could tell that Shirtless Boy was staring at him.

"You put a hole in my ceiling," he stated, as if it wasn't blatantly fucking obvious, as if it wasn't the worst thing to happen to Jack during his entire two _years_ at Towson University.

"No shit," Jack replied, his eyes still glued to it.

"Maybe we can try to hide it, like D.J. and Stephanie did in that episode of _Full House_ ," Shirtless Boy offered, and Jack finally met his eyes. He didn't even seem _mad_.

"You know how that episode ended, right?" Jack began. "Danny found out."

"I know," Shirtless Boy said. "I have every season on DVD. Just looking on the bright side, trying to be hopeful. Y'know?"

No, Jack didn't know. Shirtless Boy wasn't going to pay for the hole in his ceiling to get fixed. Jack was, and he was seriously stressing out about it. He was already feeling an anxiety attack coming on.

"It's not that big of a deal, Jack. I'll pay for it," Shirtless Boy reassured, setting his palm on Jack's shoulder. That surprised him for three reasons. One, he had no idea that Shirtless Boy knew his name, and he kind of felt bad that he kept referring to his neighbor as _Shirtless Boy_ in his head. Two, he didn't know why Shirtless Boy was so calm and why he didn't seem the slightest bit upset at the prospect of paying for ceiling repair. Three, Shirtless Boy was touchy, despite the shy vibes that came off of him. Jack was hit with irony from multiple directions, leaving him dazed.

"I can't let you do that, man," Jack protested, his frustration fading away to pure exhaustion.

"It's okay," Shirtless Boy insisted. "I'll put it on my dad's credit card and he'll never know. He's loaded, trust me. I'm Zack, by the way, in case you didn't know."

Jack sighed.

"I didn't," he answered, and Zack's face fell a bit. "But I'm glad that I know now. Can finally put a name to that pretty face of yours."

Zack smiled at that, and Jack turned to leave.

"Wait!" Zack spoke up, and Jack turned slightly. "How did you hear me scream?"

"I'm sleeping in the hallway," Jack explained. "My roommates were having sex, and they were being kind of... loud. Also, I thought you were dying. Your scream would make a casting agent proud."

"Spiders can be murderous, you know," Zack said in reply. "I could have been in mortal danger."

"It was a daddy long-leg. It wasn't gonna _kill_ you."

"So I have a phobia," Zack admitted. "Spiders freak me out."

"I can see that," Jack said, looking towards the hole in the ceiling.

"I may be overstepping my bounds," Zack started, wringing his hands together and biting at his bottom lip. "But you can stay here if you want. My roommates not here and I'm pretty quiet."

"Unless you see a spider," Jack added.

"Unless I see a spider," Zack agreed.

"Okay... thanks," Jack responded gratefully, closing Zack's door behind him.

"Anytime," Zack promised. "What about your stuff?"

"Rian will get it when he leaves to go get his early morning Starbucks when it opens at 5:30, and you're totally gonna regret that invitation."

"I doubt it," Zack said, blushing and turning to gesture to the sofa. "Couch is all yours."

"Thanks, Zack, really."

"No problem, Jack, _really._ "

**Author's Note:**

> I got my idea for this fic from this Tumblr post, where I sort of combined two prompts. http://iobeyfandoms.tumblr.com/post/123486434219/aus


End file.
